This study is set to explore the theory of speech acts
with special reference to Zulu. This is done with the
motive of discovering the applicability of this theory to
the utterances that are issued by the speakers of this
language. Particular attention is given to the
performatives as a special kind of speech act. Their
examination reveals that in Zulu, there are acts, which
could be performed by saying something. We distinguish
between explicit and inexplicit performatives. Explicit
performatives contain a verb in their main clause which
names the act that is performed when a performative is
issued. The inexplicit performative on the other hand
does not contain this verb.
Acts that are restrained as far as the explicit
performative is concerned, would rather be expressed by
means of the inexplicit performative. Utterances such as
those that express commands, customarily make use of the
imperative, which is an inexplicit performative.
A closer examination of how performatives are realised in
Zulu, reveals that in order for the performatives to be
understood as intended by the speaker, the illocutionary
force, of what the speaker intends or means by the
issuance of the utterance in question, comes to the
surface. It is the illocutionary force which connote
that an utterance is a request, a command, a warning,
etc. Performatives can also be double-natured in function.
One performative could be a request which is intended as
an order. In this case it is the responsibility of the
addressee to use contextual information in order to
determine that which is the speaker's intention. In this
investigation, what has surfaced as well, is that one
speech act could be expressed in various different ways.
For instance, a request, could be expressed by the use of
a performative, an imperative, a question and a
statement.
Another factor which we came across in this study, and
which has a significant bearing on the performative, is
that they should comply with the conditions of felicity,
if they are to be successful and understood as intended
by the addressee. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/27416 |
| Date | 10 1900 |
| Creators | Masubelele, Mthikazi Roselina |
| Contributors | Posthumus, L. C. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (vii, 98 leaves), application/pdf |
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